Day 54

This is one of the big weekends planned. Moreton Island! With a tour. A little background info, the island is about 39.5 km long (very big, let me tell you when you’re driving around), and 9 km wide at its widest point. It’s the third largest sand island in the world (the other two also in Aussie), meaning that it developed naturally over time. So when it comes to roads…there are none. It’s all sand paths. It’s easiest to drive on the beach especially at low tide since the sand is hard and wet. Otherwise it’s bumpy roads on the shore or through the bush. You have to have 4-wheel drive and an experienced driver, who still sometimes get stuck. There’s a resort on the island where you can stay and feed the dolphins, or do camping. There’s also a town, where some people live without electricity, as there is none, or fuel. Solar panels are popular as well as generators. There’s one small store, stocked once a week by boat, with essentials such as toilet paper, beer, pads, batteries, and some other small items.

So, I woke up at 5:45 am and took the bus to the Brisbane Transit Centre where we would be meeting up with our tour operator and group at 7 am. Anita also came along for the overnight tour. There were two others staying overnight, and four others on the day trip. The ferry, Micat, left at 8:30 am from the Port of Brisbane. We all piled into this Jeep, small packs on our laps, large bags, surfboards, and coolers up top. Our tour guide’s name was Josh. There was a Korean and a Peruvian-American who were staying overnight, and two Japanese, a Korean, and another Asian (I can’t remember where she was from) for the day. We drove the car onto the ferry and piled out. The first level was an inside deck with toilets, tvs, and a café. I headed towards the back where you could go outside, and discovered around a corner by following some people that there were stairs further up! So from there you could see all around. Anita and I sat in the sun on one of the sides, watching the ocean and the planes take off and descend from the Brisbane airport. As we got closer to the island, you could see this ring of turquoise water around the island, and massive sand dunes! Then shipwrecks as we approached further. The ferry took about an hour and a half. The ramp goes directly on the sand and all the Jeeps and trucks drive off.

I was shocked. I was expecting there to be roads, but everyone just drove off along the beach. We were all told to buckle our seat belts and some safety rules, like when he said hands up, hands go up on the ceiling to prevent us from bunking our heads. Luckily I was right behind the passenger seat, a less bumpy ride and you could hold on well. I truly enjoyed the 4-wheel driving. It didn’t make me motion sick at all! We first headed to the Desert, aptly named for the large area of sand. We hiked up the top of a huge, steep dune with our sand boards. It was so hard. I definitely got a work out from all the sand I walked on. We waxed the boards and some people were off. You could sit up, lie down, or use the standing up board with helmet (a lot like snowboarding). I chose to go down the other side, which was less steep, lying down. That was fun! Then the steep side. It was hard to fit completely on the board so I got a bit of sand burn, especially when I tried to slow myself down with my bare feet. Afterwards I had sand everywhere! Down my pants, shirt, and later I discovered after swimming, on the back of my neck. The steep part wasn’t that fun for me, a little too crazy. Anita went on the standing up one and did a great job! Climbing back up after sliding down though…oh my gosh. It was so steep at the end you collapsed when you made it to the top. The last section would have no footprints, because they disappeared by sliding away that quickly. What was cool to see, is that the island has about 20-something different sand colors. There we saw a pure white, black, orange, and brown.

Next, we drove to Blue Lagoon. There was a little walk through the sand (at this point everyone had abandoned their shoes in the car, the sand was cool to walk on actually) to this beautiful fresh water lake. I tasted the water (you’re supposed to be able to drink from it) and it was delish! We ate our lunch here, Subway sandwiches. I chose to go in the water, along with Jun (the overnight staying Korean). It was freezing cold! Definitely one of the colder places I’ve swam. Did not stay in long.

Afterwards, we went back to the main beach by the shipwrecks so that we could go snorkeling. The ocean water felt warm to me, but we all got wet suits (a good thing in hindsight since it was a bit chilly towards the end). Also, we received life jackets (PFDs), flippers, and masks. First we had to show our swimming proficiency by swimming out a little and then back. So I put on one of my flippers and then promptly tripped, hopped, bent the flipper, and fell over trying to put the other one on. Very hard to walk in them! We were told to walk in the water backwards, but walking the first steps, I nearly fell several more times. First thing I discovered: the current was super strong pulling us further down the beach, opposite of where we want to go. Second: I could not swim at all with flippers. At all. They were slightly big which didn’t help, but I felt swimming without them was a lot faster for me. I told Josh and he had someone switch with me, the same size, but a pair that wasn’t ripped on the side. These worked much better. Three: I obviously wasn’t using the breathing tube properly even though I put my entire mouth over the opening since I swallowed quite a bit of sea water. Anita showed me how to properly bite down on it and adjusted the head part and it worked perfectly afterwards. The goggles leaked a bit around the nose so I had to empty them periodically and I kept a hand pushed on the nose bridge which helped.

We were told to swim between these two boats, straight out, and then through the artificial wrecks. Artificial meaning that they put these sunken boats here on purpose. You could only see a few from the surface, most were underwater. The problem was as soon as you headed out you got slammed by the current. I ended up trying to move in the right direction by swimming on my back, worked a bit better. One of the guys on the white boats among the reef encouraged us along, saying that we were putting in a great effort. Finally we made it by the wrecks where the current was a lot less powerful.

Oh my, it was soo beautiful. The water was crystal clear so you could see really far into the depths and there were so many fish! Very colorful ones, striped, blue, yellow, orange, black. You had to be careful when swimming though that you didn’t get to close to the wrecks or swim over the shallow parts. I really wish I had an underwater camera! Anita and I saw a cormorant surface right in front of us fish in his beak. The fish struggled and the bird as well, the fish escaped once, but in the end the bird swallowed it and you could see it moving down the throat. I still can’t believe it fit inside the bird! Such an amazing view. After quite some time, I headed back to shore, not cold at all! The warm water plus a wetsuit worked well.

The day visitors headed back to the ferry as we packed up back to the sandy paths to make our way to our campsite. Along the way we drove through the one town on the island, an old hobo village. Since 98% of the land is national park, you can only build where there were previously buildings. The town was nice, lots of remodeled, glass, fancy houses. It’d be fun to live there except for the fact there’s no electricity, they all had generators and solar panels, and one store, no fuel. The store was restocked once a week on Tuesday by boat. They had essentials like beer, pads, some canned food, drinks, and lots of toilet paper.

The next short we made was at Five Hills Lookout. It was located in the middle of thick bushland and our tour guide told us that it was crawling with snakes. At the top of the path, you had a great view of the surrounding bushland and the Glasshouse Mountains over the bay on the mainland. We made it to our campsite at dusk. First stop after unloading our things into tents, Anita and I decided to share one that had three mats, very comfortable, was the restrooms. One cold water external showers, a sink, and outhouse toilets that had a button on the floor. When you stepped on it, it would pump a cleaning solution into the toilet. It was all very environmentally friendly, trying to minimize the impact of humans.

Since it was dusk time, you could see the path to the beach lit up with setting sunlight. I headed to the beach to watch the sunset and it was gorgeous! Took so many photos of the beautiful sky and waves. Along the beach we’d always see pairs of pied oystercatchers. They always were within 1 km of each other. They have one mate, if the female dies first, the male will starve himself to death, if the male dies first, but the female will just pick another mate. There also exists a rare kind, sooty oystercatcher which Josh’s boss had seen once in 10 years. Apparently the black bird Anita and I saw on the beach was a sooty one. He’s in the background of our photos. Jun ran after the bird and managed to snap a closer picture with its crazy red eyes.

Josh fired up the grill with the propane tank we had brought with. Dinner was garlic bread, spring rolls, sausages, and salad. All a bit burnt, okay the garlic bread was badly burnt, couldn’t pull off the aluminum foil from some areas, but still good! The temperature rapidly dropped with the sun gone. It was sooo cold! You could see your breath, definitely around low 40s, upper 30s, or 10ish C. We played some card games and then headed to bed around nine. I added my flannel pj pants over my jeans, a second pair of socks, and another t-shirt to the tank, shirt, blouse, sweatshirt, and fleece jacket I was already wearing. My borrowed sleeping bag was a bit small, only went partly up my chest, so I was cold the entire night and woke up a couple times. It wasn’t that bad though especially the next morning when the sun came up early and started warming up our tent!

Day 47-48

This weekend was extremely warm, definitely in the 80s with lots of humidity. I got to wear my sundress! On Saturday, I went with Isabel and Beate to a community pool where you can swim laps. It’s the first time I’ve swam laps since middle school swim lessons. Needless to say, I was way too weak, but I did a little backstroke and breast swimming.

Sunday, I went to visit Roma Street Parklands, a huge park located within the city. Along the way, I stopped at Wickham Park, a very small park whose name reminded me of Pride and Prejudice. At Roma, you first saw a huge grassy area and a map detailing all the little sections of gardens they had. Fern Valley, this rainforest area, marsh, and different flower areas. It was all gorgeous, especially the variety of flowers. I especially liked the part where they cut the bushes into shapes. There was a caterpillar, kangaroo, elephant, and giraffe. There were lots of little ponds and waterfalls as well. It was easy to forget that you were in the middle of a city. Here, I saw my first water dragon! Contrary to the name, they go on land too. I saw him crawl up some vines.

Day 41

Sunday was the big hiking outing with my friends from work, Hanne, Ben, Anita, Haipu, and Miroslava. Quite possibly the most fun day, I’ve had here yet. We met in front of Beate’s house, Miroslava and Hanne driving the cars. Hanne and I went to go pick up Ben, and Anita and Miroslava went to get Haipu. We arranged where we would meet in Springbrook, the national park. It’s about a two hour drive. As we hit the rainforest area, the roads became windy and we were heading up into the mountains. It wasn’t that high, but I could feel the pressure on my ears.
Finally we hit the plateau, and entered a small town! There’s actually a city, Springbrook, up here! It was lovely and quaint. If it weren’t so far away from the city, I’d love to live there. We went first to an overlook. Completely amazing! My first rainforest and it was gorgeous, with the waterfall, foliage, and rock cliffs.
We decided while we had good weather to head to the Best of All Lookouts since the last time Hanne was here with her husband, they could not see anything, but fog. The trail was beautiful! I could not take a photo with flash because there was so much mist in the air, it just reflected. The trail was also somewhat slippery. Everything was dripping with water and it was cold. The vibrant green colors were unlike anything I’d ever seen before. At one spot there were several Antarctic beech trees. They grew from one tree that existed over 2,000 years ago. That’s old! We made it to the lookout and had a spectacular view, free of fog, but with a rainbow! You could see the Gold Coast skyline. When we got back to the cars, you could see the misty rain clouds and fog start to move in as the sun faded. Perfect timing!
Next, we ended up at Canyon lookout where the Twin Falls trail started. That’s the hike we wanted to take. From this lookout, you could see Rainbow Falls, and the Twin Falls. We ate a bit of lunch there, and headed off. It was an easy trail to follow and walk, compared with the tangled underbrush around. I could never try to hack through that! There were some awesome cave like tunnels, we had to walk through. It’s impossible to describe the varied beauty around us. I did notice that the rainforest had different levels. Up top it was drier, and got more lush and green as we descended. We saw three waters, making a detour to see Rainbow Falls. I was the only one to dare walk partially behind it since all the rocks were so wet.
We took the trail behind the Twin Falls. Totally idyllic. I wished it were summer and I would swim here. Somewhat of a romantic setting too. Nature constantly surprises me with these gorgeous scenes. After some more walking, we reached another water fall. This time the trail passed so close to the curtain of water, the entire path was soaked and part of the path was blocked by dripping water. We all protected our electronics and made a rain through it.
We headed upwards again, passing by some fenced lookout areas, through dry bush. All of a sudden Ben told us to halt. There was a wallaby on the path in front of us! My first wild kangaroo! Afterwards, we headed back home, Hanne choosing to take the scenic back roads. It was really pretty with lots of orange grasslands. I saw two larger wallabies hopping together over a field! And then when we passed over a bridge, on one of the street lights, there sat a pelican! My first one! Definitely one of the best days in my life.

Day 40

After some nutella with baguette for breakfast on Saturday morning, Beate, Joachim, her husband, Isabel, and I prepped to go on a little 2-hour hike in the nearby on Mt Coot-Tha. It was a quick half hour drive before we arrived. We headed on the trail; it was very dry, a eucalyptus type bush. The creek was completely dry since it’s the dry season here and we don’t experience much rain. So where the water fall was supposed to be, there were only rocks. Kind of a good thing though; we had to cross several areas where it looked like had it rained, it would be underwater. The trail went up and down a bit, and was a loop. Nothing too strenuous.

Afterwards, we drove up to the lookout on Mt Coot-Tha, past all the tv stations with their gated, high security compounds, helicopters, and electrical towers. The lookout had an amazing view of the city. There was even a summit restaurant there and a little gift shop. A Chinese couple who had just gotten married were getting photographed. On the way back to West End, we stopped at a German bakery and got pretzels. So as a late lunch we had German white sausage with pretzels, and sweet mustard. Very delicious!

Day 33-34

On Saturday, I went swimming at the beach in Southbank, the artificial one. The water was colder than the ocean so I didn’t stay in long. Fantastic weather though, blue skies with 70s! This is my first winter where I’m not pale as a ghost but actually getting tan lines.

Sunday, Beate and I went on a bike ride along the river. The Brisbane River is salty and has low/high tides since it comes directly from the ocean. We biked all the way to the last CityCat ferry stop, through New Farm Park, and then rode the ferry back. Again it was fantastic weather! We crossed over the Story Bridge in the city, and stopped at Eagle Street pier to take a walk among the expensive restaurants and markets there. It wasn’t that far to bike and flat, right along the river.

Day 39

Friday, instead of going to work, I went with Haipu and Miroslava to Sunshine Coast. Haipu had to attend a celebratory event about working in cleaning up the Moreton Bay oil spill which occurred a little over a year ago. She helped in setting up passive water samplers and showed up in the slide show and a poster. We got there a bit earlier so we went for a stroll on the deserted beach.

We went shell hunting and I found some cool ones with holes in them, want to use them for jewelry. First was morning tea, a habit Australians have kept from the British. Yummy biscuits with clotted cream and jam! Afterwards we sat in a tent where some dances were performed by a local tribe adorned with painted white stripes.

Several people talked and gave thanks to all the different organizations that helped with the clean up. The minister for environment, Peter Garrett, was also there, a pretty famous guy. Lunch was excellent as well! I had this pastry with kangaroo goulash, and must say: kangaroo is delicious! It tastes like beef and I liked it. I also had a crocodile sausage roll, crocodile tastes a bit more like seafood.

We went back down to the beach even though it was cooler now. The wind had picked up leaving ripples on the sand and the clouds hid the sun. I changed into my swimsuit and headed into the blue-green water. It was chilly out and definitely warmer in the water. You can see how cold I am!

. I splashed around some in the waves and then changed back into my clothes, loving the warmth of my fleece jacket. We decided to drive a little further up to Noosa Heads from the Kawana Surf Club we were currently at.

Noosa Heads was a lovely smaller beach town! There’s a river running through the city where all the waterfront properties have their own little beaches and boats docked. We went to the state park. Apparently you can see koalas in the wild sometimes here if you go far enough. We walked along the ocean on this path. It was so beautiful!

I took a ton of photos of the turquoise waters. There were some surfers too. At Dolphin Point, I climbed a bit further on the rocky ledge to look directly over into the thundering waves below. The water would spray up into a fine mist. Then we headed back, I saw two kookaburras then. They’re my favorite birds, with their laughing bird call.

Day 38

My b-day! Thursday was lovely! After I came downstairs, there was a chocolate birthday cake on my placemat with these cool candles.

I had two pieces for breakfast, it was delicious! Beate got me a weekend trip to Moreton Island including sand surfing, snorkeling, learn to surf, and the opportunity to see wildlife like turtles and dolphins! Then we headed off to work where during a break we cut up the other two cakes to share with everyone.

I had another piece then and two more for dessert later that evening. I also got to Skype with my family and got lots of b-day wishes from everyone that I’m still sorting through and replying to.

Day 27

Today we drove out to Gold Coast, about an hour drive, to see the Pacific Ocean and all its beaches! We went to Surfer’s Paradise first, and it was aptly named. We drove along the ocean searching for a parking space. I immediately snapped a couple photos of the fine white sand and gorgeous aqua waves. Some were rather huge, and I spotted a couple surfers. It was partly cloudy, but warm enough. I headed to the ocean and acclimated quickly to the temperature change. It was so much warmer than Maine’s Atlantic Ocean in the summer! And actually warmer than some of the pools I’ve swam in. The yellow warning flags were up and I didn’t head in too far. The undertow was crazy and kept pulling you down the shore.

After swimming, I lay in the sun a bit and then we played Bocce ball on the beach. We then got in the car and drove further down the coast to Burleigh beach. It was totally full with surfers! There were about 40 all in the same area trying to catch the waves. This was my first time seeing surfing and it was interesting to see how only 1 out of 5 successfully caught a wave.

Surfing’s hard! We ate at a surf club, on the deck with a great view of the ocean and surfers. The food was amazing! I got a Barra Fillet burger with chips (fries). Barramundi is now my new favorite fish. Sorry Haddock!

We then walked along the paved path by the beach into this national park that had some trails through a woodsy area and a lookout point.

We ran across some other people that had just seen a huge snake on the pavement! It was one of the three (a bit of an exaggeration) non poisonous species in Aussie, but it disappeared before we got there.

Day 20

On Sunday, Anita and I spent the day together. Anita’s staying with me while Beate’s on vacation. She came from Switzerland to work at Entox and is looking for a place to live. We needed to grocery shopping so we walked through West End to Coles. I tried again to get money since I still had no cash and my atm card from the US would not work. I checked my Australian account and I got paid! So now I finally have money and can at last buy things like a new phone card, hair dye, and Shout. Anita can cook very well, luckily for me. I’m saved from eating nothing but grilled cheese and ramen noodles. We walked back carrying the groceries, one heavy bag, but it’s not too far to Beate’s house.

After eating a bit of lunch, we wanted to take the CityCat, the city ferry boats, down the river to the Queensland University campus at St. Lucia. Here for transportation, instead of buying a ticket, you can use a Go card. You put money on it and swipe on and off at these electronic pads on buses, trains, and ferries. I love boats! I’ve only ridden on boats a couple times, but it was so exhilarating to stand at the prow, feeling the speed, with the wind whipping by.

My hair became a mess though. In the open stretches where we drove quickly, I was glad to have my sunglasses on, though on the way back at dusk, my contacts protected my eyes so no tears from the wind.

We strolled around the campus, first by the two ponds, then through all the buildings. At the pond’s edge, I was looking into the water, where some ducks and ibises had just been fed, and saw the water writhing. I thought at first there were large fishes moving, but no, it was a bunch of eels!

Apparently it’s normal to find eels in ponds here. They have a separate building for every major it seemed! There were at least five engineering buildings. The chemistry building looked pretty nice and there was an amazing courtyard area with great structural design.

I loved how everywhere you have these outdoor cafes. What was really cool to see, were outlets outside on these little tables. You could plug in your laptop! Even an engineering building was open to the outside.

I guess with no super cold weather, it works.

We walked back through the city a bit and as it was getting late, everything was lit up.

At this point my camera ran out of batteries though so I’m definitely planning on going back at nighttime! I’ve discovered that I actually like living next to a big city.

I’m really enjoying myself in Brisbane, and I’m already dreading the time when I have to go home. I’ve met such nice, awesome people here who I don’t want to lose contact with. And most of all, I don’t want to go back to boring school with lectures and homework, and no labs. I like the practical side of science. I’m already plotting how to make it back, either with study abroad, doing my master’s or PhD here, or maybe working here someday.

Days 13-19

Pondering: Thoughts During Passage of Time

So I’m riding the bus now to work a bit until Beate comes back from vacation. I did ride with a coworker, Miroslava, but she’s taking a couple days off. Bus riding isn’t that bad. The 120 buses, I ride, come pretty often, every ten minutes, and they have this cool thing called a busway here. It’s like an interstate, where you drive fast, but it’s only for buses, no cars allowed.

The other day in a bus, I saw a sign that said no spitting allowed. Offenders will be prosecuted and that bus operators are equipped with DNA testing kits. I just found this hilarious, to be able to spend so much time and money on testing for finding someone who spat in the bus.

Doing stuff in the lab is as fun as ever even though I feel like I make quite a few mistakes. Oh well, I’m learning and it’s all part of the process. It’s cool though to realize that you are understanding more and learning the steps to certain bioassays.

I’m beginning to feel at home here, with the left handed streets, it’s going to be bad trying to adjust back in the US especially since I’m supposed to drive back to school two days after I get home! That’s like asking for an accident.

The money here is part plastic. It feels smoother and is nearly impossible tear. It’s a great idea to lower the wear and tear that bills go through by doing this. The money is really colorful too! Gorgeous, I’ll try and post some pics of it sometime. The coins are confusing to me!

Day 12

When Beate called up to Isabel telling her breakfast was ready, I awoke as well. I spent some time on the computer and cleaning before heading off on my excursion into the city. I had planned to visit the City Botanical Gardens across the river. I walked through South Bank Park (which you’ve seen lots of photos of) by the river. There were considerably more people about since it was the weekend. I headed along the Arbor (curly, spiral metal structure with flowers) towards the pedestrian bridge. I crossed completely to the other side, to begin walking through the Gardens.

The first section I happened upon was the mangrove, filled with white and grey mangrove trees, birds, waves from the water, and a slight smell in the air that reminded me of the ocean despite the lack of salt.

There was a boardwalk over the water and it was comfortable to sit there on a bench with my eyes closed just listening. The tide was going out, so you could see all the wet sand with the baby mangrove shoots popping through. I could see sailboats on the river, kayakers, and the huge stone cliffs on the opposite side. Instead of sticking to the path directly along the river, I headed up the stairs, picking a wooded path. It was on a dirt trail, with all sorts of tropical trees around me.

I ended exiting on a huge lawn next to two small ponds with ducks and a statue. Crossing the lawn I proceeded to walk through a bamboo alley, and then to the other end of the park admiring the huge, green trees, flowers, and palms.

Near the entrance that leads straight into the heart of the city, there were larger ponds with huge fountains shooting directly up into the air, about 14 ft tall. I got sprayed with some mist.

There were lots of birds around, plenty of ibises (the white and black bird from an earlier post). I saw my first wild kookaburra, the first I saw at Lone Pine.

I exited the park and walked past the QUT campus, Queensland University of Technology, the Parliament:

and the Old Government House.

There are a lot of universities here; I walked past Southbank Technology on my way home.

I cannot put into words the great joy I felt at seeing all this natural beauty. I love nature with all my existence, simply put, it makes me incredibly happy. On the way back through the park I walked by the river and headed into the mangrove again, to sit there eating an apple.

I headed back across the river to South Bank and lay down on the beach. It was warmer in the sun, I still had a short sleeved sweater on and rolled up long pants, but some people were swimming. I stuck my toes in the chilly water. I spent nearly an hour there, just daydreaming, before heading back.

Day 11

On Friday, we ran the umu assay and got to use the robot! It follows a program and fills up the wells on the mircoplates. At lunch time, we went out to eat to celebrate Haipu’s birthday. The mall we went to was full of Asian influence; more signs were written in foreign characters than in English. We ate at the Cube Hot Pot. It was a meal unlike any other I’ve had before. You ordered certain ingredients to put in a gigantic pot split into a section with vegetable broth and one for meat with a spicy broth. The water boiled while we dumped in mushrooms, tofu, potatoes, corn, chicken, octopi, and more. I thought it was really good and picking out pieces of food actually led to a filling meal. They set the tables with chopsticks, but luckily they brought out forks, because me + chopsticks =disaster. Some of the appetizers were incredible spicy. One made me cough. At some point the servers brought a box of tissues out.

I carpooled with Hanne home since Beate had to stay longer and work. Hanne was heading into the city for a concert celebrating the opening of the In-Between Bridge. I started peeling potatoes for dinner and must say: it was slow progress. I can’t handle a peeler apparently without worrying about slicing my finger off.

Day 10

Both Australia and Germany were playing two different soccer matches at 4:30 am, but the family decided to watch the reruns at 6:30 instead. I would never get up early. I was glad to hear that both countries won, even though Australia wouldn’t proceed to the next round.

Beate’s going on vacation for a week with her family, and I was planning to take the bus to work. I need to figure out where the bus stop is here at Entox and back in West End though. She asked if I wanted to drive the car which I would have no problems with, except it’s a manual car! I can only drive automatic so the bus it is.

It’s Haipu’s birthday today so we had cake! One was a cheesecake, chocolate and vanilla, with a graham cracker bottom, and the other chocolate with orange flavoring. Delish! I felt so full afterwards. Hanne finished up the E-Screen, split some cells, and prepare cells for the umu bioassay tomorrow. We had to stick them in the incubator and we mixed up some more media. Just some more housekeeping stuff. I did a safety orientation form where Wasa showed me around the lab, things that I’ve already known from working in labs before.

Day 9

In the lab, we did some housekeeping. Refilling the boxes with pipette tips, and going on a hunt for the yellow pipette tips that they’re in dire need of. They have a bunch of the wrong kind without beveling so when you add them to an auto-pipettor, they just fall off! Anyways, it led to the opening of a bunch of boxes and seeing what was within. We also picked up some boxes of bottles from the supply store here. We had to go a bit outside the building rolling along one of those pushable platforms so we had to use the elevator. I’ve noticed that no one uses the elevator here, everyone climbs stairs. It’s actually faster to climb stairs! The elevator moved so slowly I couldn’t even feel it!

I also mixed up some B-buffer solution which was more like chemistry than biology. Weighing out a bunch of different compounds, using a stirring rod, testing pH, it was very comforting to know what I was doing for once. I made something else too, just adding 5 mL of certain things and dumping premeasured things in, but I had to do it in the PC2 lab so some prep work was involved. So I got to do a bit more on my own.

I finally got my own id pass so no more visitor badges. I had to wait a bit for the guy to show up who does the pictures. And he actually used an oldish Polaroid type camera, none of this electronic, press a button on the computer pictures here. It says occupational trainee on it (aka intern) and now I can get into buildings. While I was waiting I was talking to Wasa who’s the head safety officer guy of this group. He was interested to learn that I’m a forensic chemistry major and since he has connections in the forensics area, he’s going to get me a tour! I’m excited since it’s pretty high security to get in. I would see the trace area since the DNA analysis section is under construction and the morgue, well that’s not really related to my passion.

We left pretty late, so back at home: I ate, took a shower, went a bit on the computer, and then called my parents, and brothers in Maine. We chatted for an hour. I’m a tad jealous of their warm weather, but glad not to be in Cincy with 90s F!

Interesting fact: Aussies really do say mate all the time. I thought it was exaggerated. Also, they’re all super friendly. At least all the random people I’ve met are.

Day 8

Today at work I got to use a multi-channel pipettor and practice serial dilution using food colors. It was very pretty seeing how they went from dark to light. I brought my lab coat all the way from US to wear it here. Hanne showed me around a bit and I got to see the second smaller lab down the hall past the food chemistry and organics sections. I also checked out where they autoclave items. Basically it’s a process where they heat glassware and other things to a high temperature for a certain amount of time to ensure that they’re sanitized. There’s this special autoclave tape that you put on everything and afterwards there are stripes across the tape.

We had to change the media for the two containers of cells Hanne was growing. They need food too! So I got to do one in the hood in the PC2 lab. The process basically goes like this: put on this lab coat that buttons in the back, put on gloves and spray them with ethanol, clean out the hood using a paper towel and ethanol, and put everything you need in the hood after spraying it with ethanol. You have to be really careful not to contaminate anything. There are these labeled pipettes that you attached to a handheld machine that can suck up liquid or expel it so you remove the old media, throw away the pipette after putting it back in its wrapper, and then add fresh media.

We left early at three since Beate had another dentist appointment. I decided to walk down to South Bank along the river, a section I hadn’t seen before. The Griffith University’s College of Art was right there by the river! So is the music school too.

It’s so beautiful with the walkway, the Maritime Museum, artificial beach, cafes, and parks.

I would love to go to school there! It was getting close to dusk so the light was really pretty. The beach had gorgeous white, pure sand, and its waters reflected wonderfully with the river right there. The palm trees and birds added to the beautiful scene. They have wild turkeys that will fly and jump around in trees. It’s supposed to be warmer soon so maybe I’ll be able to dip my toes in at the beach!

Interesting fact: Since people drive on the left here, the way people walk on the sidewalks is different too. Usually in America if you’re heading a certain direction forwards (like a paved walking path with a divider or sidewalk) you walk on the right side so that people heading in the opposite direction walk on the left and can pass you. Same thing with standing on escalators, etc. Here, you walk on the left! I nearly ran into people on my first day walking through the city because it took me awhile to notice.

Day 7

My first full day on the job today. First at nine, we had a staff meeting where everyone discusses their work plans for the week in Beate’s group. Then the entire Entox group met up for seminar, which the boss was giving. Beate forewarned me about him and all I can say is oh my god. He would have failed with that presentation in school. It was just minuscule diagrams that he copied from the paper. I felt really bad because he seemed like a nice guy and made an effort, but he was awful at presenting. He had no sense of order and kept trying to show cause and effect even though his experiment could only prove correlation. Stuff that I’ve learned in basic psychology classes.

Afterwards, I followed Hanne around as she did an I-PAM bioassay. She was analyzing 24 water samples from different stages in a water treatment plant. Some of them were disgusting looking, brown. As they progressed, they turned green, and then clear. Basically the process involves a lot of pipetting, analyzing the growth of bacteria in the samples, and after adding the algae, testing the luminescence with the I-PAM machine. We had to measure the absorbance of a diluted algae sample to begin with, but the UV-Vis machine would not work! It was really old, but the older machine was more accurate than the newer machine. After two hours, it finally worked again and Hanne could proceed.

While I was in the lab, someone opened one of the -80 °C freezers. It was totally frosted and white in the inside! I was pretty tired by the end of the day; it was already dark when we left. Since the 21^st of June is the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere, it’s actually midwinter here with the longest night. On the way home, I was trying to figure out what planet I kept seeing. Apparently, everything’s flipped here. The sun still rises east to west, but the moon travels opposite and all the stars are switched too. I’ve also found myself getting used to the left side of the road driving system. It’ll be weird back in the US!

This evening, I saw my first bat in the wild. It flew up from a tree for a second and it was huge like the ones I saw at Lone Pine. Crazy stuff.

An interesting fact for you: Everyone who goes to school, not college, here has to wear a uniform. The younger kids’ uniforms usual include a wide brimmed hat which they need in order to go outside for recess. Girls have to wear long skirts past their knees when they’re older.

Day 6

In the morning, we decided to go to Lone Pines Koala Sanctuary. After parking next to a large body of water, we walked down a path towards the entrance, surrounded by eucalyptus trees. It’s so beautiful to see so many of them growing in the wild. We first headed to the lorikeet feeding, sometime I’ve done before in a zoo. You go in a large cage and hold cups of nectar and the birds will go to your hand. Here, this was completely different. Lorikeets are wild birds here, I’ve seen several. There were tons of them that flew down and ate this rather chunky food from big platters. Also there was a huge square ring that would turn depending on where the birds landed. A small fountain stood nearby where the birds would bathe in, rolling in the water. They flew very close overhead so I had to watch out.

Next we headed up to the main koala section. It was filled with koalas! They had small enclosures, covered by a roof with some branches. Koalas slept in them, curled up into balls. There were many different ages and they actual look pretty different now that I’ve seen so many of them.

We went in the platypus house which was darkened since they’re nocturnal creatures. At first we could only see some shellfish in the tank, but then out of nowhere the platypus emerged. He was small! About a foot in length, swimming back and forth and doing loops. He would grab the shellfish in his beak and break them apart in order to eat them. It was one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen.

We walked around a bit more, then down to the enclosure where a presentation over koalas would be given. Over 130 koalas live at Lone Pine! After the slideshow, we could pet one of the koalas. He was so soft! Then we headed over to this open field where the birds of prey show would be taking place. They warned to stay seated during the show and it began. The first bird came from over a hill, swooping down over the field to land on a perch. It had a huge wingspan, one of the largest in Australia. We got to watch each bird eat and be carried around. The Barking owl was awesome! They used our heads as trees and he spread his wings and flew right over our heads! The last bird ate from the sky. They tossed his food into the air and he would snatch it right out of the air!

We entered the kangaroo area next, a large fenced in area with tons of wallabies hopping around and some emus too. They were all there to be petted. I had a sack with food pellets. I put some on my hand, held it flat in front of a wallaby and it ate from my hand! His tongue and lips were soft, leaving me with an empty hand and kangaroo slobber. I also fed an emu. His beak didn’t hurt either, but you had to have a pile of food in your hand because he ate fast! The smaller reddish wallabies were shy and wouldn’t let you too close. There were water bins all around for the kangaroos to drink from. It was interesting to watch them fulfill their thirst.

Lunch was eaten in this open picnic area with koalas around us enclosed only by short Plexiglas fences. Some of them were active and ran across the ground to the next tree. It’s so weird watching them on the ground, they were fast! We got some ice cream and headed off to look at some of the different birds, Tasmanian devils, giant fruit bats and wombats.

Apparently here you don’t see the small bats like you would in the U.S. Instead you see these huge ones! On the way, we saw a mama koala and her baby on her back! It was adorable!! Lone Pine was an amazing experience.

In the evening, we went to a good bye party for one of Beate’s research assistants. We drove part of the way and walked the rest through the bush, and Griffith University. Walking these trails through the bush was fun! It was pretty with all the eucalyptus trees and palm bushes. It was interesting to see an Australian university, but it was completely deserted. Pretty different type campus, than what I’m used to.

Day 5

I got up at ten this morning; jet-lag must be pretty much gone now after three days. Isabel, Beate and I stopped at the library on the way to the market. It’s a tiny little room. I did recognize three authors though, Garth Nix, who’s Australian, Tamora Pierce, and Philip Pullman. I’ve never heard of any of the other books. It was funny to see that they had a self checkout computer with the same exact program our library uses. A little reminder of home.

We walked to the market, past Isabel’s school taking lots of pictures along the way. Here's a picture of what passion fruits look like.

At the entrance of the path through the park where the market was, there was this enormous tree! Very typically Australian. The market was crowded and sold everything that you could imagine. America’s still far behind in their markets.

After the walk home, we made strawberry cake. Yum! A layer of cake, pudding, then strawberries, plus whip cream.

Day 4

No work today. Beate has a meeting so she didn’t see the point in driving back for a small amount of time. She showed me where the Commonwealth Bank was in West End so that I could set up a bank account. It was pretty easy! My other bank at home’s online so I’ve never done this before. I just had to show my passport and sign a sheet of paper. They seemed to get a lot of students setting up temporary accounts since while I was leaving, there was a girl from France doing the same.

In the afternoon we went grocery shopping at Coles. I notice on the way there was a Domino’s here too! They have a lot of different types of fruits and vegetables here that I’ve never seen before, like pamellos(sp?), they look a like a type of melon. The food prices seemed more expensive here than in the States, but there were some similar brand names, like Mountain Dew! Cereal was completely different; most of the cereals were a type of granola mix. The store and the selections were a lot smaller than what I’m used too.

I helped decorate the table and set up for the dinner party. People started arriving at six and one of Beate’s colleagues Ben, brought home brew, beer he made himself. The drinking age is eighteen here, by the way. We chatted a bit and the dinner itself was delicious. For dessert some guests brought fruit salad and apfel strudel, an apple type of cake. I noticed while eating that all the Europeans ate with their fork and knife, the fork in their left hand even though they were right handed, where the Chinese girl and I only picked up our knife when we needed it. Just an interesting tidbit of culture information for you.

The soccer game started at 9:30, Germany against Serbia, I believe. I went to bed at eleven because I was still jet-lagged and it’s tiring staying up late.

Day 3

Again, I woke up sometime early due to jet-lag, but fell back asleep to wake up at seven. It’s cool that I can wake up automatically this early with jet-lag. This morning before having some chocolate cheerios for breakfast, I called my parents and chatted for a bit. Then I ate, packed my lunch, and my bag. I left with Beate, and Isabel, her daughter. We dropped off Isabel at school since she was late before driving to work. When we entered the carpark aka parking lot of the Forensic Scientific Services, FSS, complex which is run in partnership with the University of Queensland, Beate pointed out the different buildings. Next to EnTox, the centre for environmental toxicology where I’d be working was the mortuary sciences building with the morgue. All of Queensland’s forensics needs are met here. The section we’d be in has lesser security. Beate used her keycard to gain entry through the back way and then we headed to the security office to get me a guest pass until I get a real one.

The guard there didn’t even recognize Beate even though she’s been working there for a year and a half and is the deputy director of EnTox! We headed up to her area, down some halls, and through a lab, into an office area where I was introduced to everyone. They were all super friendly. One guy asked me how I pronounce iron, Fe. At first I didn’t understand him because he said it like “ion”. Apparently the Australians don’t pronounce the “r” and it was a bit of an argument between him and Beate who says the “r”. Needless to say, I made Beate happy, and it was a funny encounter.

I met Hanne who was currently the youngest person there; she had already finished her masters so that should show you the age gap. She is from Norway, and is going to show me around. I’ll be shadowing her, and asking her a bunch of questions. The others were British, Danish, and Chinese. Beate took me in her office and showed me some powerpoints on what they do at EnTox, and the projects they’re working on. Basically they’re using a variety of bioassays for different things. After a couple weeks, I’ll be working on my own project dealing with E. Coli. and also learn how to do some bioluminescence tests. She also gave me a research article to read.

Then a little later, I underwent training with two other girls from Hong Kong. This friendly lady explained the procedures and rules of FSS, and we had to fill out a worksheet. She told us that in the summer, they have snakes lying around on the sidewalks and that some birds will swoop out of the sky and attack your head. Thank goodness it’s not summer! I also had to do fire procedure training on a computer and answer a quiz to make sure I knew my safety information.

Afterwards, I went and ate lunch with the other girls that work in Beate’s group in the cantina. Then Hanne showed me a bit around the lab, their HPLC machine, etc. We then went in the PC2 lab which you need special entry to since they work with breast cancer cells in one and salmonella in the other. I observed Hanne do an E-Screen test on a sample. She was performing the test to see if there was any estrogen present. Adding the cancer cells would react with the hormone to multiply the cells. It was interesting. She worked in this special hood and everything had to be sprayed with ethanol first to make sure it was clean and uncontaminated. I got to see a multi-pipettor being used for the first time.

I was pretty tired at this time since it was about two o’clock, and around this afternoon time is when jet lag hits me the most. Beate had to leave early for her dentist appointment so we headed home a little bit later.

Beate had to start prepping dinner for tomorrow night since she was having a good-bye party for one of her research assistants. She decided to make kaese-spaetzle, a noodle-type German dish. I got to help make some of the noodles, it was fun.

Day 2

I walked away, rolling my two suitcases, exiting into the main area where Beate, my god mother, was waiting for me. It feels good to be speaking German again. I kept looking around like crazy, everything so different and new. The plants were completely different, spiky, and trees too. If you’ve ever seen an Australian exhibit at the zoo before or at botanical gardens, that’s what it really looks like. Getting in the car was really bizarre. I had forgotten by this time that they drive on the left here! It’s so weird! Their license plates are thinner and longer, and say what state (aka Queensland, and the slogan The Sunshine State, just like Florida!).

We drove through the city, past the river to her house. They have 7 Elevens here too!

For breakfast, I had my first real passion fruit. They grow wild here! After eating breakfast, Beate gave me some maps and a cell phone. I unpacked and then after everyone had left for school and work, I set out to view the city. The birds I’ve seen are crazy different. Sure, the pigeons and morning doves are the same, but the bird calls in the sky are dominated by these harsh sounds made by birds similar to crows, but larger in size.

I walked to this park along the river, all the while taking pictures. I walked under this arch covered with a pink blooming vine and saw this crazy bird. Two Asians walking behind me shouted excitedly and started chasing after it with a camera. It was the type of bird I would imagine in a zoo.

I continue walking along the path, past the big Ferris wheel, and across the Victoria bridge into the pedestrian zone.

There was a market, tons of expensive clothing stores and food for sale. I crossed over into King George's square in front of the City Hall. Absolutely gorgeous building.

Then I stopped by the Transportation Info Centre and picked up a bus line map for the way into work. I also stopped at the Tourist info center to get an updated map of the city. I leisurely walked back a different route through South Bank, past the museums and performing arts centre, and then through West End, to the townhouse. I love hearing all the Australian accents around me and could not stop admiring the trees.

I read this book throughout the afternoon about kangaroos and learned some fascinating bits of info. Dinner was delish and very funny. Beate and her family love to laugh, they’re a fun group to be around. I was pretty exhausted at this time, but I had to check my email, and then I caught up on fanfic. It was 7:45 am old time by the time I hit the sack.